Blast From The Past

Crossed Words

The sound of birds chirping singing wake me up. I didn't sleep very well as I spent the night tossing and turning. Flashes of Edie's face which blurs into Donnie's own face appear every time I closed my eyes. Thankfully, Joe isn't all tangled up with me so I'm able to climb out of bed. I go to the bathroom. I hear Joe sleepily calling out my sleep. "I'm in here! You go back to sleep." Thinking he's asleep, I'm surprised to see he has sat himself up, rubbing his eyes and scrolling through his phone. "I was thinking maybe we could order breakfast to be delivered, I'm starving. What do you think?" I sit on the bed and take the phone out of his hand to look at the menu.
The three of us are sitting at the dining table, chatting about various mundane topics when Joe's phone bleeps. I watch as he talks away to the person on the other end. Nikki whispers across to me "his accent gets stronger when he's talking to someone from around here, have you noticed?" I try to giggle to myself. I'm sure that it's what always happens when you are talking to a fellow native from the local area but I guess she doesn't know that.
"So, ladies, how do you fancy a night out?!?" Asks Joey, clapping his hands together and beaming with a smile on his face. We both say yes. "Good, Katee, you're going to be able to get to know my band mates better and Nikki, you'll get to meet them." Both me and Nikki look at one another and I start to feel fidgety. "Hey, Joe, who's going to be there?" She asks. He rattles of the names and I relax when I don't hear Donnie's name being mentioned. "Donnie is working so he probably won't get there in time or something like that." Joey answers our unsaid question that I know Nikki is also thinking this. Instantly I relax a sigh of breath and looking at Nikki, she's feeling the same.
A couple of hours later, we're all getting ready to go out. It always feels more exciting when you're going out in a big city rather than a small town and that's how me and Nikki feel.
Walking into the living room, we get whistled by Joey and a big cheesy grin hits my face. I blush slightly too. Standing in front of him, I tiptoe to kiss him as he wraps his arms around me. Checking him out, he looks good too! "Come on you two lovebirds! I actually want to go out tonight." Nikki declares whilst laughing.
We're in the taxi on our way to the first bar. I'm sitting in between Joey and Nikki, enjoying their conversation. It's making me happy to see my best friend and my boyfriend getting along so well. I just hope that I am the same with his close friends once I get to know them.
When we get to the bar, Danny is already there with a friend. Once introductions are made, me and Nikki head to the dance floor so that Joe can chat with Danny. I'm lost in the music when I feel an arm snaking round my waist, instantly I recognise that it's Joe and his breath on me as he whispers to me, "you look damn hot the way you're shaking that booty baby!" Goosebumps prickle my skin hearing the deep, breathy tone in his voice. I turn to face him. He kisses me on the cheek. "The Knight brothers are here with Harley and Evelyn. I'd like to introduce you to them." Quickly, I point them out to Nikki and she soon follows us back to where the others are now sitting. Introductions are made, and us ladies are enjoying chatting. Looking at Evelyn, she looks kind of tall, with dark hair and eyes. She seems really lovely. Nikki suggests we get up to dance. Joe tells us he will join us in a few minutes.
Needing a drink, we all sit back down. I'm having a fab time with everyone. Then my joy disappears when out of nowhere, Donnie arrives and sits down opposite me. "Are you okay?" Nikki asks me as she leans closer to me. I try not to look across the table despite feeling his glare upon me. I grab hold of Joey's hand which is resting on my thigh. Nikki asks if I want to dance, Joe, still holding my hand, stands up and leads me to the dance floor.
We're spinning, shaking our booties and laughing at the pure joy of what dancing brings us, only it comes to an abrupt halt when a pair of hazel eyes are glaring at me from behind Joey. I stop. Frozen to the spot. Then suddenly, this urgency rushes through me and I have to escape. I can't cry. Not here. I need to control myself. Dashing through the people, I make my way to the toilets.
Thankfully there's no one else in here as I hurl over the toilet, vomiting. Why am I reacting this way? "Katee?" Nikki's voice bellows as I hear as the door opens. She finds me and holds my hair back away from my face. "Every time I see his face, I see my baby girls'. Where's Joe?" She wipes my tears with her thumb. "He's waiting outside that door. You haven't told him yet, have you?" I shake my head. "I know I should. What if it affects his life and his band?" She quietly shushes me in a reassuring, loving way that a best friend would do. "You haven't done anything wrong K. Joe is a grown man, I'm sure it'll be difficult at first but no one was to know that you have history with his band mate."
We chat for a few minutes more until we the door opening, and hearing Joe's voice calling us out. I study his face as I walk towards him. All I see is concern etched into his handsome face and guilt fills inside of me. He asks me if I'm okay and I'll tell I'll explain when we get home.
The rest of the night, I managed to keep my distance from Donnie as much as possible which wasn't easy. I did hear Nikki telling him to back away at one point.
I was looking around for Joe when I got accosted by Donnie. Nikki is busy talking with the others, and there's no escape. He must sense me trying to find a way to move away as he wraps his hand around my upper arm. "I'm not going to hurt you Katee. I just want to talk. I thought we left things good between us.." I snigger. "You think it was good that you paid me off. That you didn't want to know about my baby, sorry the baby that we made together, but that's all you wanted, wasn't it? Just a bit of fun and when it got too serious, you didn't care." He let's go off my arm and rubs his forehead. I can tell he wasn't expecting me to be so honest like that. "What did you expect Katee, I was going through a divorce. I didn't need to have you make my life difficult." Stunned, I stand there frozen. "You know what, maybe, you should keep it zipped up. Jerk! You don't know the meaning of difficult." I manage to push past him, grabbing my jacket and head for the doors. Upon seeing me, the door security open the doors swiftly, I thank them and walk.
I haven't stopped walking until I look around me, and I realise I don't know where I am. Damn! Fumbling inside my handbag, I pull out my phone. Typical! I have no signal. There's a little wall so I make my way over towards it and sit down. I reach for my photo. I talk to it as if she can hear me. "I'm sorry baby girl, I'm really not handling this well am I, mammy's hurting. I wish for more than anything in this world that you were here. I will always love you my girl, Edie. You were never difficult, you were a little Ray of sunshine. Don't believe what that so called father said about you or us. He'll never understand the pain of losing you."
Now wearing my jacket, I've walked a while and found a diner. I go to pull the door open but it's closed. Then I spot the sign alerting the customer that it's not open for a few hours yet.